2.10.2014

State of the Blog 2014 {With Major Life Updates!}

Hey there friends! I hope y'all had great weekends. I thought that today I'd share a little about what's going on inside my head these days when it comes to the intersection of the blog, my life and my side business CSW Designs. We're gettin' a little bit more personal than usual up in here, so grab a cup of coffee and let's chat. Mmk?

My life has been full of changes lately and I want to talk about two of them today. I've alluded to both of these a few times over the past couple of months, but haven't expanded on them much. One, which happened in December, is that I got a new job. The second is that we're moving to Philadelphia! Last week we made it official, so I feel like I can share it with you here now. These big changes certainly have had effects on May Richer Fuller Be and CSW Designs, so I wanted to let you in on where my head and heart are these days.

Let's talk new job first. As you know from my mini home office updates (here and here), I started a new genetic counseling job where I'm now working from home instead of commuting to an office. This job was a huge answer to prayer for a number of reasons (I'll get to one of them in a second), but it was a really tough and stressful adjustment period for about the first eight weeks or so. There was a big learning curve, and I barely had the mental or emotional energy to do anything but that for those eight weeks. I felt really drained at the end of every day and blogging quickly fell to the bottom of my priority list since it's quite hard to be creative when your energy is completely sapped! Y'all may not have noticed since I was still consistently posting, but doing anything beyond that (interacting with y'all on Facebook and Twitter, etc.) just wasn't gonna happen.

I feel like I'm just now coming up for air and getting the hang of this new job, and therefore I'm getting my creative groove back. It feels really good.

One unexpected realization I had during that (challenging) time was that I truly missed the community that can come through blogging when I was deep in the trenches just trying. to. get. a. post. up. each day.

So can we hang out more often? I would love love love that. Hit me up on Facebook, Twitter, email or comment here. Let's make this more of a two-way street. And if there's anything else I can do to make this a better experience for y'all as readers, please let me know!

Our next BIG transition that's coming up in a few short months is the move to Philly! My husband is going to graduate school there, so that means a move two-and-a-half hours north to a city I've now visited two whole times - and those two times came in the past month when we went to visit to make sure we actually liked Philly enough to make the move :).

Turns out it's pretty cool. We're really excited.

This brings me to one of the reasons that new job was a huge answer to prayer: I can take it with me when we move. I don't have to try and find a new job in an unfamiliar city where I have very few connections in my field. I'm really thankful. We're really thankful.

In a future post (or now if you'd like), I'd love to pick your brains about anything you know about Philly since we know very little about it.

So what does all of this mean for the blog? First, since we're moving in the next few months, there most likely won't be a lot of major DIY-type projects happening in our itty bitty city apartment. We'll be focusing more on winding things down and doing little projects and crafts here and there. I'm sorry if that's disappointing to some of you, but I hope that you'll stick around, because moving means a whole NEW home to decorate and make our own - on a tight budget! It's gonna be fun, y'all. I can't wait to share our new place with you. Once we find one that is. :)

During the next few months, I also want to focus more on my little side business, CSW Designs. Right now, I've got graphic design printables in my Etsy shop, and onesies and kid's t-shirts over here, but I'd love to grow those and maybe bring them together a little more in the coming months. Introducing my newest print - Washington, DC neighborhood art - was the start of that. I'm really loving graphic design these days, and I'm itching to grow my skills in that area this spring and summer.

So that's the State of the Blog for 2014 so far. In case you didn't get through all those words here are the highlights:

I got a new job! It was a hard adjustment and blogging was tough going for awhile there, but I'm back, and ready to hang out with y'all more.

We're moving to Philly soon! A move means more projects and more fun for y'all to read about.

10 comments:

Congratulations! I've lived in the Philly area my whole life, and when to grad school at upenn. It's a great city with lots of cool things to do, but it's small enough to not be overwhelming. Good luck with everything!

Congratulations on both the job and the move! I can certainly understand the difficulties of your job transition as I just recently started working from home and moved to a new city as well. I don't know anything about Philly, so I can't give you any advice there. However, having just completed a move I would suggest that you start planning and making lists now. My lists were the only thing that kept me sane! Congrats again and best of luck.

Congrats! What a great new life stage for y'all. My husband is going to PA school this summer or fall, so we may be moving as well. I'm right there with you, with all the changes coming up. It's exciting, scary and adventurous. Best wishes on your next endeavor, and welcome back to the land of creativity! :-)

Hi Chaney! Congrats congrats congrats! Such exciting news for you and Charlie. Just wanted to drop you a line and say that your blog seriously inspires me, you have done and continue to do an amazing job . Thank you for not being afraid to let your creative juices flow on here! You, among a few other awesome friends and bloggers, have encouraged me to do the same. Sending so much love to and Charlie from John and I :-) xoxo

Wow! How exciting!! My parents moved to Philly while I was still at Auburn and I loved visiting there! They lived in Lower Merion along the Main Line, but there are many fabulous areas. I always loved the row houses in the city too. Philly is a great city...amazing food, so much going on, easy access to NYC! Congrats to Charlie on starting grad school too and to you on the new job!!

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